Govt keeps focus on budget despite woes

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PETER CAVE: The Federal Government is pulling out all stops to keep the political focus on tomorrow's budget.

But later today the industrial watchdog Fair Work Australia will reveal what, if any, charges it will lay, as a result of its three plus year investigation of the financial management of the Health Services Union's national office.

The Government is continuing to hand out budget sweeteners as MPs return to Canberra after a six week break, nervous about Labor's prospects at the next election, Julia Gillard's leadership and more immediately the impending carbon tax.

From Canberra, Alexandra Kirk reports.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The budget's at the printer's and Wayne Swan's vacated his Treasury Department bunker, returning to his Parliament House office.

The Government spent the weekend unveiling budget sweeteners: more money to cut the long public dental waiting lists, a new bonus to replace the education tax rebate, and allowing small business to offset current losses against past profits.

On a much more modest scale it will expand a program for parents in disadvantaged areas to help their young children learn and develop.

KATE ELLIS: This is a great program. We know that investing in these early years changes the outcomes for children as well as their families.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Minister for Early Childhood, Kate Ellis, says most of the extra $50 million will be spent in Indigenous communities.

KATE ELLIS: It's proven itself in 50 existing sites, so we are announcing today that in tomorrow's budget we'll fund it for another 50 sites, and over 3,000 more children will partake in the program.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Opposition's long claimed Labor would never deliver a surplus. One day out, Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, isn't ready to eat his words.

JOE HOCKEY: We won't know whether Labor actually delivers the surplus until September 2013. And by that stage I haven't found anyone that thinks that Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan will be around.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: And the Coalition's panned the "school kids bonus".

JOE HOCKEY: The fact that the money can be spent on absolutely anything and the Government's going to put money into people's bank accounts whether they want it or not is an illustration of the fact that this Government is reckless with money. This is simply about the carbon tax and a sugar hit before the carbon tax.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: So will the cash payment help alleviate voters' concerns about the carbon tax? Kate Ellis acknowledges the Government, quote, "has a lot of work to do explaining the assistance families will get".

KATE ELLIS: And that's something that we are all out there doing day in and day out and will continue to do. But I think that this new measure will be welcomed very much by parents struggling to meet the costs of their children's education.

We know that families are doing it tough. We want to help them and I think that this is a great way of doing it.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: The Prime Minister says she'd be "terribly disappointed" if the Opposition tries to stop money going to struggling families. The Coalition's keeping her guessing.

JOE HOCKEY: Well, the last time Julia Gillard tried to bully us into supporting legislation she didn't have the courage to put it before the House of Representatives, and that was in relation to Malaysia. So we are not about to take any lecture about courage from Julia Gillard.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: In the battle for supremacy on economic management, the Government's set to announce it will deliver a surplus by spending cuts and restraint, with tax as a share of the economy in 2012-13 lower than any year under the last Coalition government, even with the new carbon tax and mining tax.